Birthday Photos!!

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I've been sitting here this morning, feeling a bit sorry for myself, as I'm home from work for the third day with strep throat. (I had not thought it was strep as I had the worst sore throat of my life, but no fever. Since there was no fever, strep did not even cross my mind. Yesterday afternoon I had an appointment with my doctor to get prescriptions to bring to China with me, and mentioned how sore my throat was and how awful I felt. She swabbed it and strep it is! I sure wish I had gone in right away. Believe me, when I'm in China if I start with a sore throat like this, I'm taking my Zithromax antibiotic RIGHT AWAY - no messing around!) I'm still contagious until this evening, so home from work again, and feeling quite miserable. I decided to check my email, and what was in my inbox, but two emails from Ann of Red Threads with BIRTHDAY PHOTOS of little Bao Xinsheng/Aaron on the day he got his birthday cake from us.
OH MY! I love the photo of him holding up 3 fingers! And, I'm so happy to see him smile! As you know from my previous post, one of the questions we had Ann ask the orphanage was what Aaron's personality is like, as the only photos we have of him he is not smiling in. I'm sure someone was making sure to tell him to smile in these photos.
It looks like Aaron is in some sort of conference room. On the wall behind him in one of the photos, way up high, I see a framed photo of an adoptive family. I wonder if this is the room we will be taken to when we visit the orphanage to thank the people who have cared for him, present our gifts to the nannies and director, and give our donations for the orphanage. I'm happy to see that Aaron was eating a piece of cake in some of the photos we received. I've heard from others that sometimes the orphanage staff at various orphanages just pose the child with the cake, but do not allow the child to eat the cake...I'm a bit sad that there are no other children with him. I hope the nannies enjoyed the cake, and that the cake was able to be shared with some of the other children in the 2-3 year old room. (It sure looks big enough!)
I'm left wondering if he was told that the birthday cake was from his new parents, and if he was shown our photo...Hopefully the care package I sent with the photo album in it will arrive soon, for him to see us.
My impressions of my new son from these photos...
- he's so much TALLER than I expected. I wonder how high that table and couch really are, because he looks really tall - which is GREAT - it shows us he is growing well. I'm bringing 2T & 3T clothing, which I hope will be right. I'm bringing 24 months for pants, as I think he is like Donovan and has shorter legs.
- I'm so glad to see him smile! His teeth look GREAT!
- I cannot wait to get him a new stylish haircut. Especially on his right side (left side of photo), his hair is over the top of his ear. Melissa and Dana...get ready for a new client at your salon!
- Most of all, I'm thinking, I cannot wait to get to China and get him!!!
Come on LOA (Letter of Approval) where are you????